Now, let’s continue with our discussion of finding great interactive websites that support our students academically for use on a classroom website or for teaching a lesson in the classroom.
Let’s find some great sites for your website assignments. Remember, the sites you add benefit students the most if they teach, provide guided practice, and independent practice. Try this example by following these steps:
- Go to Google at www.google.com .
- Type “Scientific Notation” interactive (with the quotes) in the “Search” field and hit return.
- Use the Quick Scan techniques provided on this page to determine which sites should be opened.
- Looking at the first site on the list, Scientific Notation, let us scan the description. The words “interactive math lessons ” seems to indicate this site is worth looking at.
- Open this site.
- Answer the following questions:
- Does the site have an attractive look?
- Does the site have a teaching component, guided practice, or independent practice component?
- Does the site have excessive text?
- The site does seem to have all of the components. There is a “Learn,” “Practice,” and “Play” component. Take a moment and write down the website URL and title of the site.
- Use the back arrow to return to the Google search and continue looking for another quality site.
- The next site on the list, Math Interactives, does not have a description but the title says “interactive” which indicates we should open it.
- Answer the questions above for evaluating a good site.
- The site has a introduction video connecting scientific notation to the real world and an interactive activity. The site has an independent practice PDF that the student could open on the computer and complete on their own paper and turn in or put in their notes. Based on this, let”s use this site. Take a moment and write down the website URL and title of the site.
- Let’s look at the 4th site on the list. It states upon looking at the website URL, you will be able to see it is the same website as the second website on the list. Let”s continue down the list.
- Looking at the 3rd site on the list, Practice Tests, indicates this is a site used for assessment practice. “Tests” indicates it may just be for assessment with no teaching, guided practice, or independent practice. Let’s not open this and continue continue looking down the list of sites.
Searching Techniques:
- When searching for a topic, use a Boolean search to find quality websites more efficiently.
- For example, suppose you would like to create an assignment for scientific notation. Put quotes around the subject desired such as “scientific notation.”
- Add the word “interactive” to the search. This will narrow down the search to websites that contain the type of activities most appropriate for a website resource.
- In our example, we would search the following term: “scientific notation” interactive
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Consider This Site
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Maybe Use This Site
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Skip This Site And Look At Only If Necessary
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Please let me know if you have any questions, thoughts, or additional tips that might help!
Carol Mortensen has nearly twenty-three years of educational experience. She began as a substitute teacher as she worked toward her degree. Upon graduation, Carol began teaching middle school Math and Algebra I and served as the technology liaison for her campus. She served as a teacher for 16 years and was lucky to have taught at Hillcrest Middle School, a 1:1 campus where every student was issued a laptop computer. She also worked as an Instructional Technology Trainer for her district providing training and technology integration support for campus and district staff, faculty and administrators. Currently, Carol enjoys her position as the Campus Technology Integration Specialist for Deer Park High School – South Campus. Before taking this position this year, she served for three years as the Campus Technology Integration Specialist at Fairmont Junior High in Deer Park Independent School District. In this position, Carol provides integration support and training to the students, staff, faculty, and administrators at the campus and district level. In addition, Carol is an online Math instructor for Aventa Learning and K12. The Texas Computer Education Association (TCEA) named Carol the Classroom Teacher of the Year for her innovative and creative use of technology to create a 24/7 virtual classroom using her classroom website. Carol has presented at school districts throughout Texas as well as state and local conferences on a variety of technology integration topics. Her article on the use of websites as an instructional tool was recently published in the TechEdge Magazine. In February 2011, her article, Lessons Learning In a 1:1 Classroom, was published by TechEdge. The article was republished in ISTE’s Learning and Leading magazine in August 2011. She was named Fairmont Junior High’s Teacher of the Year for the 2011-2012 school year. Carol is passionate about the positive impact that technology has on student achievement. Her presentations are packed with real-life solutions, quality resources, and humor. She has an ability to connect with her audience and motivate them to take technology integration to a higher quality level.
